Saturday, December 26, 2009

We recently acquired the comic books from the Monster Emporium in our quest to own all comic books in the known universe. While digging through and organizing this mountain of books, we came across some real treasures. Here is one such book...

I don't understand why you hate people that are trying to read Captain America: Reborn. Why would you spoil the ending to this story in three different comics? After that, why would you then release a one-shot for Captain America that summarizes the ending of Captain America: Reborn before the final issue has been released? Why can't I just read the conclusion to this story before all of these other stories started happening? Why would you do that?

Do you hate me? Did I kiss your sister or something? No, I did not. I did not do anything to you, in regards to Captain America, to warrant this behavior from you. I've been a faithful Captain America fan for years! I even bought the issues when he was a werewolf! The CAP-WOLF issues!!

What you have done is insulting to the faithful readers of this character, surely you know that. While I will continue to buy issues of Captain America, I just wanted you to know that you have upset me.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Hey guys, I thought it would be fun to show you what the inside of the store looks like. It seems like we're changing up the look of the store every month!

This is our trades section! The other side has just as many books.

Ugly Dolls love Jay-Z! Who knew?!

This a Clark Kent skeleton statue I picked up in Las Vegas.

An awesome Winter Soldier/Captain America statue.

This is our used trades section. Lots of great stuff in there.

Our back issue bins

We told him that he needed to stop singing rap music and upsell stuff instead.

This is our new release wall. Every Wednesday, new comics will appear here like magic!

This is our current holiday display

The last photo is of Riley from the Monster Emporium. Riley diligently tests every video game that is for sale at that store. He is a real American hero.

That's it for now guys! I hope you enjoyed this candid look into the store. If you like what you see then I encourage you to stop in and say hello. As always, feel free to email me at chad@coastcitycomics.net with any questions, comments or death threats you may have.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The next chapter of Captain America: Reborn comes out this Wednesday, so I figured a Cap related post was in order. The Sentinel of Liberty is one of my favorites, so I did not want to do some post about how iconic he is. This blog operates a little off the beaten path folks, I wanted something that you may have never heard of before. I beseeched the Google Gods and they smiled upon me this day. Here is the bounty they bestowed upon me.

That's right, a Captain America restaurant! The crazy thing is that there are three of them and they are all located in Ireland. They have been serving American style food, like cheeseburgers and steaks, since 1971. They even have a menu item listed as the Captains Classic burger. These guys love American food and Captain America. I'm seriously considering booking a flight to Ireland, so I can eat at this place.

They have a lot of Captain America imagery inside the restaurants. The one below is my favorite.

That's pretty awesome!

The restaurants also feature a ton of rock n' roll memorabilia. They have guitars and set lists from Queen and REM. They also have signed photo and a pair of shoes from Deborah Harry of Blondie. Each restaurant has a museum inside which houses these rock treasures, so there is plenty more than what I mentioned. It's as if a comic shop and a Hard Rock Cafe had a love child on a wild Irish evening, I'm into it.

If you want to read more about these restaurants then you can check out their website here.

If you're interested in picking up the next issue of Captain America: Reborn, then I highly recommend going to coastcitycomics.net and holding a copy using comixology. This issue may sell out before you get a chance to stop in this week, and this great service can help you avoid such a catastrophe.

If you guys and gals have any questions or comments, please feel free to send me an email at chad@coastcitycomics.net. I have yet to receive an email from anyone other than my mom, so please don't be shy! I will talk to you!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

A Batman of the future fights a Joker virus in probably the worst Batman story ever written.

If you read this book, you will wish you were dead. I can't put it any other way. I would say this is the worst comic book I have ever read, but I can't. The reason why I can't say that is because I didn't finish the book. The interiors of this thing gave me a headache! I had to put it down and and go outside to make sure there were other colors besides blue and purple. Take a look at these scans!It's like staring into cancer! The computer graphics are terrible, but not as bad as the actual drawings they law over them. The people in this book look atrocious. What makes it worse is that the artist takes these crap drawings and then copies and pastes them all throughout the book! Look at the second page on the bottom panel. They used the same guard three times! Not even Greg Land would be that lazy! And get a load of the writer on the back cover!

Three computer monitors? Really? Is there where you go to craft the new digital masterpieces of the future with your advanced digital tools? Does purple lightning help free your mind from all the norms of society? False! You look ridiculous, almost as much as you do pompous!

You may be thinking "Chad, why are you being so hard on this guy? It's not like he said this was going to be compared to 1984 or anything!" Oh yeah? Read this!

Yeah he did do that! This guy really thought that this book was going to be considered a critically acclaimed masterpiece. The big problem he had is that he was too preoccupied criticizing and embodying technology to write a story that did not make you wish you were dead.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Here is something you may not know about me. I am a fan of professional wrestling. I have been seen since I was a kid, and I don't see myself not being one in the future. I would even say that I have been a wrestling fan as long as I have been a fan of comic books. With a name like Action Chad, it should be no surprise that chair shots and leaping off of 20 ft. ladders appeal to me. It's how I live brother!! ACTION!

Those worlds are now going to collide in a falls count anywhere, street fight, courtesy of Titan comics. The adventures of these wrestlers will not be limited to the squared circle. If you couldn't have guessed by looking at the cover to the left, they are going to encounter and beat the hell out of numerous sci fi/ fantasy threats! The first cover has HHH beating up zombies! It's as if the WWE has finally read all the letters I've been writing to them about how to make things more awesome on their shows. I'm anxiously awaiting to see if Vince rides around the ring on a chariot of fire while barking commands at tigers.

Whether or not these comics will be "good" remains to be seen. These are comics based off of wrestling characters, some cautious optimism should be used. True wrestling fans remember the Ultimate Warrior and Undertaker comics. Those were not considered "good" comics in the classical sense, but there are people who enjoyed them.

I can say that I will definitely be picking up the first issue when it ships on 3/23/10 at Coast City. If for any reason these books are not ordered, I will be dishing out tombstone piledrivers to Tony and Gerald.

If you would like further information, then you should read the article up at CBR.

Hey guys! This will be my first post on our old blogger account. We made the call to switch over to this from Tumblr, so you guys could leave comments on the posts. I could have added some scripts to the Tumblr blog, but then you would have had to sign up for like three different websites just leave a comment and blah blah blah! It was a pain in the butt!

This will be the new home, so make sure to update your bookmarks!

Also make sure to scope out my handsome mug on the coastcitycomics.net homepage. I am a stunning piece of man.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Oh boy! It’s Image United!! The massive crossover story from a company that has openly criticized Marvel and DC for making giant crossover stories! Hypocrisy is awesome, especially when it is used to make money!

All of the original Image founders have returned to this story (Jim Lee on covers), and they’re bringing their original characters with them. Each creator will be drawing their own characters for this story. That means you will get to see characters brought back from comic obscurity, like Shadowhawk and Youngblood. Does this excite you? I’m not excited, that’s for sure. The majority of this cast is dead to me. They exemplify the dark ages of comics, which was the 90’s. The gathering of these characters is like going to a high school reunion. It’s awkward and you feel forced into it. Not to mention the original founders were not that great when it came to deadlines. The reason why most of these characters fell into obscurity is due to their books being late all the time. Whether all of these issues ship on time is anyone’s guess.

They also announced that Al Simmons, the original Spawn, will be the big bad for this story. You probably just thought “What does he mean ‘original’”? I thought Al Simmons was Spawn.” I know, that’s what I thought when I heard that information too. Apparently Spawn blew his own head off and there is a new Spawn, not that you probably care. Now Al is mad! How mad? He grew big horns on his head and started using HGH! You’ll see him in all of his evil glory in the picture above. You may notice that he looks just like Darkness from Legend. Tim Curry should be suing the pants off of these guys! On a side note, no make-up was used in the move Legend. Tim Curry appears in his natural form.

In true 90’s fashion there will be about 7 seven different covers to collect. There will probably be a foil, hologram, embossed variant of each at a later date. At $3.99 a piece, Image is really helping out their devoted fans in these difficult economic times. Thanks guys, I always thought paying my power bill was overrated anyways!

In the midst of this 90’s reunion, a new character emerges. His name is Fortress, pictured to the right, and here is what creator Whilce Portacio had to say about him.

Fortress is introduced as the ultimate mysterious new character with almost no understanding of what he is. He fumbles through the event, eventually finding it in his heart that he is part of this new whole and gives his all to protect Image.

What does that even mean? It sounds like Portacio doesn’t even know what’s going on with anything. Fortress better do something cool in the story, he has to make up for that costume somehow.

Thankfully, it was recently announced that Invincible will be in the event at some point. Why you don’t put your most popular character at the center of this story is beyond me, but at least he shows up. If you read Invincible on a regular basis you already saw an “Image United” in the “Invincible War” story. In my opinion, this was a crossover story that held true to what Image has been preaching for a while now. A self contained issue, with a huge story, that featured all of the characters from Image United. Not a seven issue blowout that will cost you about $25.00 to collect.

Either way, you’re probably going to read Image United #1 when it arrives at Coast City this Wednesday. I’ll be right there with you. Despite my complaints, I’m curious and I want to know what happens. I hope that I’m pleasantly surprised and I really love this story. It has potential to be really cool, despite the hypocrisy from it’s creators.

If you guys think I’m totally wrong about what I said above, then I want to hear about it! Please email me at chad@coastcitycomics.net. That’s right guys! I’m official now! I desperately want to hear from you. Tell me your hopes, dreams, anything you want. I have a lot of free time, so I’ll read anything you want.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

As the title of this post implies, I am going against an old cliche and selecting a back issue to read based solely on it’s cover.

The Flash #203 (1959 series) caught my eye when flipping through our back issue bins. The left side of the cover uses a photo background where the buildings and people have a filter applied to them which makes them look almost as if they were drawn. The Flash and half of Iris Allen are then drawn over the photo background. The contrast between the drawings and the real people and buildings makes for an interesting sight. The right side is completely drawn and is noticeably full of bright colors. This section is meant to represent the future so using a brighter color palette was a good choice. The combination of these two sides really captures the eye and makes you interested in what’s happening. Add in that Iris is trying to escape to the future, because she says that is where she belongs (WHAT!), and you have quite a cover! That’s why I picked it guys!

Enough of my art critique, how is the story? This tale, entitled “The Flash’s Wife is a Two-Timer”, is classic silver age storytelling and I really enjoyed it. The basic plot is that Iris, The Flash’s wife, discovers a locket that tells her she is from the future. Much like superman, her world was doomed and her parents sent her back in time so that she could be safe. The locket then causes her to be transported back to the future, but not before leaving a note saying she was being pulled 1,000 years into the future. I’m not entirely sure how she was able to calculate this, but luckily she did. The Flash arrives and finds the note and is alarmed. He then uses the time treadmill to travel into the future to get her back. Like most futures, everything has gone to hell. Water is being rationed, everyone lives in a weird cylinder and the country of Laos is in charge of Earth! The situation gets worse when The Flash has to battle Sirik the Supreme in order to bring Iris back to the present! Yikes, the future is a terrible place guys!

There is also a part in the beginning where Superman gives The Flash some guff about not being an alien. If I was The Flash I would have rolled my eyes, at a normal human rate. Superman would know that I purposely slowed myself down, so he could see my eye roll at his whiny cry baby speech. Superman is typically a jerk in any comic book during the sixties and seventies and he deserves this treatment.

It looks like that judging a book by it’s cover turned out to be a success this time. I encourage you to stop in the store and find some comic covers you enjoy. There may be an awesome story that you never have read before right behind those covers. We have a huge selection of back issues, so you have plenty to choose from.

That’s all for this week guys! As always, if you have any questions or comments then please feel free to direct them at uglystupidugly@gmail.com. We also have a discussion board on our Facebook page with a special section devoted to this blog. I want to hear from you people, so please feel free to contact me.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

I’m going to come right out and say it, I love the new Wonder Woman series. You can criticize me if you want but I stand firm in my initial statement. I understand that I may be labeled a sissy boy by a number of my comic brethren, but I encourage you to ignore the stereotypes associated with being a Wonder Woman fan and read on.

I really enjoy when a comic book takes characters from mythology and works them into a modern setting. You have seen this done well by The Incredible Hercules and Thor as of late, and now you can add Wonder Woman to this list. The exciting plot developments that occur between the Amazons, Zeus, Ares, Achilles, The U.N. and Wonder Woman are really interesting. It is a great mix of contemporary stories mixed with classical characters.

The fight scenes are brutal! How brutal? She definitely deflects a rocket off of her bracelets into the Cheetah and punches a guy through his head. Yeah, deal with that. Wonder Woman really puts the hurt on the bad guys in this one. If you are bored by the idea of W.W. dominating her opponents then you will be excited to know that she spends a few issues getting the snot kicked out of her. The fights are compelling, exciting and over the top but you can never be sure if W.W. is going to win. I think any comic fan can agree that is more interesting. She also head butts bad guys to victory, I may be in love here guys.

The art in this series looks amazing. From sea monsters rising from the depths of the ocean to the more tender moments between W.W. and her love interest, each is handle with care and detail. It’s a feast for the eyes and a fine example of what super hero comic book artist should be trying to achieve.

This recent series, which we have trades of mind you, really opened my eyes to how awesome Wonder Woman can be. I’ve started digging through our back issues and have found a lot of really good stuff which I think any comic book fan would really appreciate. If a guy who once thought Wonder Woman was the lamest of the lame can find some love for her, don’t you think you could too? Come on guys, give the lady a chance.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Hey guys! I’m posting on Friday this week because I’ll be down at the Boston Comic Con tomorrow with Tony! We’ll have a table set up for Coast City Comics so please come over and say hello if you’ll be around. Now on to something that bothers me…

See this little guy pictured to the right of me? That’s Puck and I could not care less about this character. I am now going to break him down in a way that would make his no doubt tiny, hairy mother cry out worse than when Gretzky went to an American hockey team.

First off he was a member of Alpha Flight. Alpha Flight is a Canadian super hero team. That second sentence is the joke. A Canadian super hero team is on par with arena football in my book. By that I mean they could exist and maybe some people would look at them but if they disappeared you probably would not notice. Arena football went bankrupt and is over by the way.

Second, his name is stupid. I get the reference to Canada’s favorite sport here by calling him Puck, dressing mostly in black and bouncing around a lot. I get the heavy handed comparison to a hockey puck. I don’t know how you could have missed it to be honest. It is like getting a slap shot to the face every time you look at this poor miscreant of nature. I enjoy campy things but this is something like a 5 year old would have came up with in art class. I would like to point out at this point that John Byrne made Puck. Good work John!

I don’t like the giant “P” on his outfit either. It is begging to be made fun of. This super hero is brought to you by the letter P! I can only imagine what any super villain would be thinking when fighting this clown. Here are some words that may come to mind; pee, puny, petit and pint-size. There are other words too but I don’t want to put anything too lewd on here. I mean I did use urine as one and to call anyone urine is pretty mean.

I also went to his wikipedia page in an effort to find something redeeming about this guy but unfortunately there was nothing. He has a pretty convaluted origin that included having an evil sorceror imprisoned inside him which is what made him short. I’m not making that last part up folks! Whoever wrote the article seemed just as confused about the characters history as you will be reading it.

Thankfully Puck was killed by the mutant Michael Pointer who had absorbed all the powers from every mutant who had lost them after House of M. It was a pretty short fight as he was killed in a couple of panels. You’ll see him under Sasquatch on the left. If you’re interested in reading that story we do carry the New Avengers trade where it occurred. It’s a satisfying read if you really don’t like Alpha Flight like me.

Maybe you’re thinking “Hey Action Chad! I love Alpha Flight so why don’t you stop being such a jerk to Puck and tell me how I can get my hands on some back issues!” Good news! I have it on good authority that we have a ton of Alpha Flight back issues. If you’re interested in picking those up then please stop in and ask for them!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Halloween is only a couple of weeks away so I figured I would take some time to look at one of the more scary heroes in the world of comics, Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider is the spirit of vengeance in the Marvel Universe. He arises from hell through a human body when horrible deeds have been done to innocents in order to avenge them. He is also one of the most metal looking super heroes ever to be created. Let’s take a more in depth look at how awesome Ghost Riders’ appearance is.

First off the guys head is a flaming skull. The skull itself is a staple of metal imagery but then to add flames to it raises it to the next level of cool. Be honest, if you saw a biker coming at you with a flaming skull for a head you would probably wet yourself. There is no shame in that mind you, it’s expected.

The flame on his head never goes out either. What fuels this? My guess is that it is fueled by Ghost Rider’s self realization of how awesome he is. I’m open to other suggestions but I think my theory is pretty sound.

His outfit is a leather biker outfit which is also cool. Occasionally he mixes in some chains, spiked shoulder pads and or gauntlets that are so over the top it would make Judas Priest jealous. Spikes, leather and chains? Sounds pretty metal to me guys. He’s a walking metal album cover that spends his time beating up on the wicked.

How would a guy like this get around? Perhaps on an indestructible motorcycle that has fire wheels?? YES! It can also ride up buildings and blow through most walls! Who would not want a motorcycle like that! If you say no to this then you are probably dead on the inside.

He also wields a massive chains which can also be set on fire. Fire! So much fire is utilized by the Ghost Rider! Naturally this is used often when dealing on some vengeance on whatever fool makes the foolish decision to cross Ghost Riders path.

He also has a power known as the penance stare. While this isn’t apart of his appearance it is pretty bad ass. Ghost Rider will grab his enemies and shoot fire into their eyes (notice a theme with the fire yet?). This fire will make them relive all the sins they have committed in vivid detail which causes his enemies to experience intense pain and sometimes drives them insane. I’m into it big time.

Interested in reading more about Ghost Rider? We have several trades and plenty of back issues of his adventures. You may also want to check out the current series by Jason Aaron called Ghost Riders: Heavens On Fire. This series features the two Ghost Riders (Dan Ketch and Johnny Blaze) so you get two for the price of one! That’s pretty awesome and it can be found in our Halloween section located in the front of the store.

If you guys have any requests for what you would like to see a blog post about then feel free to email me at uglystupidugly@gmail.com.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

I’ve always been a huge fan of Spider-Man so naturally I spend some time digging through the back issues when I’m here at the shop. I started noticing something on the covers of of issues 312-333 (the majority of them anyways).

The “Non Mutant Super Hero”? Seriously Marvel? Did you really create a ficticious form of racism and then apply it to the cover of Spider-Man? Do not try and say you didn’t because you guys totally did.

I spent some time trying to find the exact answer as to why an editor would feel the need to add something like that to the cover. Unfortunately my search only resulted in a bunch of message boards where people argued back and forth as to whether or not Spider-Man is or is not a mutant. I was surprised at how heated these discussions had become; pro and con camps had definitely been formed. The official word from Marvel is here, he is an altered human and not a mutant. He was not born being Spider-Man so therefore he is not a mutant. It seems simple right?

The more I read these forums I began to realize that maybe the answer was this argument I was seeing. I remember there was a point in the stories where it was questioned as to whether or not Spidey was a mutant. Could it be that the masses became so fired up over this question that angry letters were written in for and against the idea of his mutantness? Judging from this message board I would say it is more than likely. The idea that an editor would react to these letters by taking one of their top franchises and then adding a special banner to their covers in order to disassociate any connection with another top franchise which was based upon a race of fictitious people, which were persecuted on a daily basis, in effort to calm the readers is maddening, but believable. The reality of it though is that it is discrimination or fictitious discrimination I guess because these people are not real!! The idea of fighting over a race that does not exist in real life as if it were real breaks my brain. The idea that real life action must then be taken to calm real people though causes my brain to then implode in on itself. Either way, I’m toast guys.

Marvel Comics is often viewed as being more realistic than their distinguished competition. In this case they subtly managed to show how racial discrimination can be used in the media even if this particular race does not exist. If it was not the original intention it can still be viewed that way and I guess that’s what this is really all about.

If anyone has any comments or any information regarding why this banner was created please feel free to stop on by the store and fill me in!